Refrigerated display case



April 8, 1952 J. E. KIMSEY REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CASE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed NOV. 7, 1950 JEKi/m? INVENTO v r I ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 8, 1952 UNITED STATES N T OFFICE 'REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CASE "JohnEfKimsey, Spokanm wash.

Application November 7, 1950, Serial No. 194,437

8 Claims. 1 o

This invention relates to refrigerated display cases, and more particularly, has reference to a refrigerated display case wherein a plurality of trays are mounted for rotation around a refrigerated cylinder.

By way .of background it is appropriate to point out that a problem which has v long existed in the art arises from the matter of humidity control. It is well known, for example, thatmeat has a water content of approximately 80% and vegetables have a water content of approximately 90%. If the refrigerated coilsof a chilling system extract all the moisture .from the air without re-deposit thereof, the meat or vegetables will dry 'up and thus cause considerable loss. On the other hand, if there is too much humidity in the refrigerator case, mold and spoiling of food results.

It is, accordingly, an important object of the present invention to provide a refrigerated .display case that will include a means for -humidi- 'fying vegetables or meats or other food under controlled conditions, in a novel manner, by the passage of a scraper blade over .a stationary refrigerated cylinder, said scraper blade rotating with .said .food shelves and being positioned to cause gravitation of the scraped frost from the refrigerated cylinder upon "the food.

Another important object is to provide a construction as described, and wherein there "is 'full control of said humidifying means, whereby it is possible, whenever flower humidity is desired, to install a means for preventing the gravitation of the frost to the food shelves.

Still another important object is toprovide 3;,

a" refrigerated display case as described which willbe attractive in appearance, and novel in operation, so as to cause the continuous ,p'assage of food on moving shelves before the eyes ofjthe customers, thus to increase the attractiveness of the display and cause a great amount of attractively displayed foods to pass before a viewing window.

Still another important object :isto provide a construction as described, and whereby it "will be possible for a customer "to "halt movement of the food shelves whenever it is desired to remove an item therefrom.

'Yet another object is to"provi'd'e a construction of the type stated which will readily lend itself to present day manufacturing operations, and will permit construction of the refrigerated display case at comparatively low cost.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds,

the invention consists of certain novel "details of construction and combinationsof parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out inthe claims, it being understood 'th'atchang'es may be made in the construction'and arrangemerit of parts without departing from thes'pirit of the invention as claimed.

' Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a refrigerated display case formedin accordance with the present invention.

'Fig. 12 is an end elevation, portions being broken away to show details of inner construction.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on line '3- 3 of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal section, still further enlarged, showing the connection of a scraper blade to a sprocket wheel.

Fig. 5 is 'a section on line '55 of Fig. "4.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the outer casing can be of any particular design, length, or shape, and it is to be understood that the illustrated shape of the display case seen in Figs. 1 "and 2 is submitted purely as an example 'of one form of the invention.

In any event, in the illustrated example, the display case includes a lower or base compartment I in which is mounted a conventional compressor unit 2 vented as at 3, the compressor unit serving to refrigerate, through the mediumof discharge and return lines 4, a cylinder 5 stationarily mounted centrally of the display case and extending the length of said case. The discharge and return lines 4 extend to a bank of pipes't contained within the cylinder 5, said pipes '6 when refrigerated chilling the cylinder wall and chilling the interior of "the display case and causing the formation of frost upon said cylinder wall.

The cylinder 5 is fixedly secured to mounting brackets I that are secured to theend walls of the display case.

Referring particularly to Fig. 4, there is rotatably "mounted at opposite ends of the'cylinder a pair of sprockets, bearings for the sprockets being provided on the cylinder ends by means'of flanged guides 8 and 9 spacedapart to provide an annular track on which is rotatably mounted a driven sprocket It. The sprockets l0 are thus rotatably mounted at opposite ends of the stationarycylinder, and are substantially large in diameter.

The sprockets I0 are driven by chain's H extending downwardly into the base compartment of the display case, and driven from small sprockets l2 secured to a jack shaft I3 bearing at one end as at I4 against one end of the base compartment I, the other end of the shaft l3 bein driven from a gear-reducing box [5 containing suitable reduction gearing and powered by means of belt and pulley I6 driven from the electric motor l'l mounted within the base compartment l.

Extending between and secured to the peripheries of the respective sprockets I are supports [8 extending the length of the cylinder and secured at opposite ends to the respective sprockets Ill. The supports [8 are spaced circumferentially of the sprockets as readily seen from Fig. 2, and suspended pivotally from said supports are elongated food trays [9 also extending the length of the cylinder. By reason of the pivotal suspension of said food trays from the supporting bars l8, the food trays are always horizontally positioned as in Fig. 2 so as to prevent food spillage.

I secure rigidly to the respective sprockets ID, at diametrically opposite points upon said sprockets, the scraper blades 20, extending the length of the cylinder 5 and disposed radially of the cylinder. Thus, when the sprockets [0 are rotated with respect to the stationary cylinder 5, the scraper blades 20 continuously scrape any frost tending to form on the exterior surface of the cylinder 5. At all times, one scraper will be moving up one side of the cylinder while another scraper will be moving down the other side. In this way, both sides of the cylinder will be continuously scraped and frost will be gravitating downwardly from both of said sides of the cylinder.

In view of the fact that frost will be dropping continuously from both sides of the cylinder, it follows that frost will be continuously deposited in whichever tray I9 is positioned at the lowermost portion of its rotation cycle. In this way, whenever it is desired to increase the water content within the meat or vegetables, due to extraction of the water content by the refrigerating action, it is necessary Simply to allow the frost scrapings to continuously drop upon said vegetables or meat, thus to humidify these foods.

When, however, it is desired to lower the humidity with respect to the supported foods, a tray 2| is positioned below the cylinder 5, and this will catch all the frost scraped from the cylinder by the scrapers 20.

In this way, a highly desirable and yet quite simple humidity control is provided, which, at the option of the operator, permits the foods to be continuously humidified or de-humidified as may be desired, the humidifying action being effectively promoted by the very rotating movement given to the shelves for the purpose of increasing the attractiveness of the display.

Access to the insulated food compartment 22 of the display case is provided by means of sliding glass panels 23.

It will be understood that the switch to the motor I! can be controlled by a customer, so that whenever a customer sees a particular food item through the display panel 23 which he or she may desire, the customer need only switch off the motor for an instant, so as to stop the rotating movement of the food trays and permit the item of food to be removed therefrom. Thereafter, the motor is switched on again, and the food trays again begin their cycle of rotation around the stationaryrefrigerating cylinder 5.

It will be understood that the gear reducer utilized in accordance with the present invention would be such as to reduce the speed of rotation of the food trays around the cylinder to perhaps 1 to 4 times a minute, so that the food trays will move quite slowly, thereby to permit them to be readily stopped at any desired location, and also to permit the foods displayed thereon to be fully appreciated by the observer. Additionally, the construction has the advantage of giving the merchant many feet of display surface in a relatively short space. The further advantage resides in the construction that it creates more interest because the displayed food is moving, and thus stimulates buying, since in a short period of time it conspicuously positions all items of food supported upon the shelves, thus to suggest purchases which otherwise might have been forotten.

What is claimed is:

l. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerated cylinder mounted therein; food trays mounted to rotate about the cylinder; and scrapers mounted to rotate with the food trays and passing over the cylinder surface to scrape accumulated frost therefrom.

2. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerated cylinder mounted therein; food trays mounted to rotate about the cylinder; scrapers mounted to rotate with the food trays and pass over the cylinder surface to scrape accumulated frost therefrom; and a re-- movable tray mountable upon the stationary cylinder below said cylinder, to catch said accumulated frost.

3. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerating cylinder therein; a plurality of food trays spaced circumferentially of the cylinder and mounted to rotate about the cylinder, said food trays being positioned to pass successively below the cylinder; and scrapers mounted to rotate with said food trays and scraping the surface of said cylinder to scrape accumulated frost therefrom for gravitation of said frost upon that food tray passing under the cylinder.

4. A display case comprising an outer casing; a refrigerating cylinder stationarily mounted therein; driven sprockets rotatably mounted upon said cylinder at opposite ends of the cylinder; food trays pivotally connected to and extending between the respective sprockets, for rotation about the cylinder on rotation of the sprockets upon the cylinder; and means for driving said sprockets.

5. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerated cylinder extending substantially the length of the casing and centrally disposed within the casing; driven sprockets rotatably mounted upon opposite ends of the cylinder; means for driving said sprockets; support bars secured to and extending between the respective driven sprockets, said support bars being spaced circumferentially of the sprockets; and food trays pivotally depending from said support bars for rotation around the cylinder on rotation of said sprockets.

6. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerated cylinder extending substantially the length of the casing and centrally disposed within the casing; driven sprockets rotatably mounted upon opposite ends of the cylinder; means for driving said sprockets; support bars secured to and extending between the respective driven sprockets, said support bars being spaced circumferentially of the sprockets;

food trays pivotally depending from said support bars for rotation around the cylinder on rotation of said sprockets, and scrapers secured to the respective sprockets and extending from end to end of the cylinder, said scrapers being positioned to scrape accumulated frost from the exterior surface of the cylinder upon rotation of the sprockets, said frost gravitating to each food tray successively as the food tray passes under the cylinder.

7. A display case comprising an outer casing; a stationary refrigerated cylinder extending substantially the length of the casing and mounted centrally within the casing; annular trackways upon opposite ends of the cylinder; driven sprockets rotatably mounted upon said trackways; means for driving the sprockets; support bars extending between and secured fixedly to the respective sprockets, said support bars being spaced circumferentially of the sprockets; food trays extending the length of the cylinder and pivotally depending from said support bars, said food trays rotating about the cylinder on rotation of the sprockets and passing successively below said cylinder during said rotation; and scrapers secured to the respective sprockets and extending the length of the cylinder, said scrapers being diametrically opposed and being positioned to scrape accumulated frost from the exterior surface of the cylinder for gravitation of the frost to the food tray passing below the cylinder.

8. A display case comprising an outer casing a stationary refrigerated cylinder extending substantially the length of the casing and 6 mounted centrally within the casing; annular trackways upon opposite ends of the cylinder; driven sprockets rotatably mounted upon said trackways; means for driving the sprockets; support bars extending between and secured fixedly to the respective sprockets, said support bars being spaced circumferentially of the sprockets; food trays extending the length of the cylinder and pivotally depending from said support bars, said food trays rotating about the cylinder on rotation of the sprockets and passing successively below said cylinder during said rotation; scrapers secured to the respective sprockets and extending the length of the cylinder, said scrapers being diametrically opposed and being positioned to scrape accumulated frost from the exterior surface of the cylinder for gravitation of the frost to the food tray passing below the cylinder, and a frost-catching tray extending the length of the cylinder and removably mountable below the cylinder to catch said gravitating frost whenever said frost is not to be deposited upon the food trays.

JOHN E. KIMSEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,095,008 Mackin Apr. 28, 1914 1,785,954 Hayes Dec. 23, 1930 1,938,985 Starr Dec. 12, 1933 

